Cubic Dollars

[Greg Hermann]

>Hi Greg and all,
>  I knew I should have included this.....
>Again all quotes from "How to sell your Software" by Bob Schenot.
>
>"Registration seems to take about four months.  You can obtain the
>appropriate forms and get information from:
>
>Register of Copyright
>Library of Congress
>Washington, DC 20559
>
>Public Information: (202) 707-3000
>Forms Hotline: (202) 707-9100
>
>  "The copyright office publishes free circulars that will be useful to
>you--Circular1 ,'Copyright Basics'; Circular 2, 'Publications on
>Copyright'; and Circular 61, 'Copyright Registration for computer
>Programs.'
>  "Registering a copyright requires you to submit the source code to the
>copyright office, where it is available to anyone.  While the copyright
>office instructs you to submit the first and last twenty-five pages of
>your source code and blank out all the trade secrets (up to 50 percent of
>the code), the legal community has questioned whether this would be
>sufficient, or if only that which is deposited would be protected."
>  "In any case, there is general agreement that copyright is not a defense
>against reverse engineering.  Instead, I never let my source out to
>anyone...,but since my documentation contains all the 'public' information
>about the program, such as descriptions of key combination and screen
>layouts, I register a copyright on the documentation and help files and
>claim (but not register) a copyright on the program.  Since my
>documentation is embedded in the .exe, and the .exe won't run without it,
>I can't imagine how someone could violate my copyright on the program
>without simultaneously violating the registered copyright of the
>documentation."
>  "If you do register a copyright on the program itself, be sure to read
>Circular 61 very carefully."
>  "If you choose not to register, the law requires that you deposit two
>copies with the Library of Congress if the work is 'published.'  There are
>fines and other penalties for failure to comply."
>
>Clarence
>
THANKS, Clarence!!! That hits the spot!!!!

After reading this, I think it is a pretty safe bet that GM et al have
never registered on little bit of their ecu code, so there is no way they
could sue over playing with it. It would not be too hard to call the public
info # and ask if copies of registered material are available on line for
review, and it would not be too much more trouble to get on their site and
do a search, so as to be sure.

BTW--if anyone finds GM source code on such a site, please pass along the
URL, etc. ---I think some of us might have the site a bit jammed up for the
next month or two!! :-)

Anybody wanna bet a dinner over whether it's there or not????

Regards, Greg
>
>
>At 12:59 PM 1/28/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>
>>
>>>  He goes on to talk about registering the copyright and says: "You can
>>>take legal action for infringement only after the copyright has been
>>>registered".
>>
>>OK --this is what I was talking about--does anybody know what you gotta do
>>to "register" a copyright??
>>
>>I freely admit to being WAY out of date on this, but it would seem that
>>they cannot sue you over it if they have not registered it.
>>
>>Where does one register a copyright, and what has to be submitted to do it??
>>
>>Regards, Greg
>>
>>
>>